Sunday, 20^th October 2024, was a special day in our seminary. Mama Kipalapala, maintaining her custom of setting apart a day, well known as, “Karibu Day,” welcomed the new community members. This year, she has been blessed with 69 first year seminarians, 2 second year seminarians and 2 new formatters, Rev. Fr. Leander Bei from the Catholic Diocese of Mbulu and Rev. Fr. Germin Longio from the Catholic Diocese of Same.

The day began with the celebration of the 29^th Sunday of the Ordinary time which was also the Mission Sunday of this year. The Holy Mass commenced at 7:30 A.M presided by Rev. Fr. Januarius Mwilwa. In his homily, Fr. Mwilwa reminded us of our obligation to proclaim the Good News to all nations. He explained that, this obligation arises from the Sacrament of Baptism through which Christians share in the three offices of Jesus Christ as prophet, priest and king.  Moreover, it is based on Jesus’ command to His apostles to go out and make disciples of all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Mt. 28:18-20).

He also reminded us that the Gospel to be preached is that, Christ died for our sins and that he was buried and that he rose again on the third day (1Cor. 15:3-4). He therefore, invited us to be missionaries following the example of Jesus Christ, the first missionary. He called upon each and everybody of us to preach the Gospel through our words, deeds and way of living at large. He concluded his homily by inviting us to thank the Almighty God for the gift of the new members in our community. In the same line of thought, he invited us to thank God for the gift of vocation and the call of becoming missionaries.

After the Holy Mass, there were different activities which were performed so as to make the day jovial and colorful. Later on, there were different sports competitions in different grounds. For instance, at the football ground, the school team came up with the victory after scoring two goals against the first year team which scored one goal.

After dusk, the whole Kipalapala community attended a joint dinner prepared for welcoming the new members in the community. The whole community was in the jovial mood.  This festive evening was accompanied by various games, presentations and brief speeches. One of the outstanding performances was that done by Kipalapala Music Band making the community roar in laughter and amusement.

Having done with the games and presentations, the community listened to the insightful and creditable speeches from different speakers expressing their feelings of gratitude and great deal of thanks to the Almighty God for all His blessings, as well as the community at large for the warm welcome.

Karibu day event was of paramount importance not only for the new community members but also for other members who have been in Mama Kipalapala before. This is because; it made us stand awakened and inspired. It also made us far more prepared, better informed and ready to receive the reserve of knowledge against what is to come, ready to transform personally and communally. Generally, the event was simply marvelous.

Prepared by: Frt. Joannes Kamugisha.